degli vs del, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“degli” is a preposition and “del” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,845
“degli” frequency rank: #3,719
“del” frequency rank: 49564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	degli	del
Definition	Verschmelzung der Präposition di mit dem bestimmten Artikel gli	Bezeichnung für ∂, ein Symbol für die partielle Ableitung – es ist nicht mit dem kleinen Delta δ zu verwechseln

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set degli and del apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

degli

3 ch

del

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: degli is apreposition and delanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degli is recorded at frequency rank #45,845, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈdeʎʎi]. del is at rank #3,719, tagged as anabbrev.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 49564, this pair ranks #1,206,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of degli vs del

Shared letters: del. Private to "degli": gi. Private to "del": -.

"degli" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

degli ← ddegli · deggli · degil · deglli · delgi · dgeli · edgli

Frequency comparison

degli#45,845

del#3,719

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degli" and "del" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "degli" is a preposition and "del" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "degli" or "del"?

"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,719 in our German list, against #45,845 for "degli". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering degli vs del

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “degli”; for an abbrev, it's “del”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “degli” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable